TWO of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts have sought discharge from the case. The submission for discharge was made before the special court hearing arguments on framing of charges. Shivnarayan Kalsangra and Shyam Sahu had been released on bail in 2011 after a Bombay HC order. Advocate Prashant Maggu, representing the two, submitted before the court that the High Court in its bail order had stated that sufficient material was not available to show their involvement in the blast. “The only link of these two accused to the blast case is that they knew the prime accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, who is yet to be arrested,” the High Court had noted in its order in August 2011.

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While Shivnarayan is the younger brother of Ramchandra, alleged to be the main conspirator in the case, Sahu was his close friend. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested the two in 2008, but the NIA in its chargesheet last year had claimed that there was insufficient evidence to charge them.

Maggu argued that the two were targeted citing their alleged association with Ramchandra.

The ATS had claimed that Ramchandra gave Shivnarayan two electronic timers for safekeeping in the month of the blast in September 2008. The NIA had, however, stated that the timer recovered from his residence was not a controlled item nor had any specific identification to prove that it was used in the blast.

The ATS had also claimed that Sahu provided five SIM cards to Ramchandra from his shop, but the NIA did not link him to the conspiracy. The court is likely to decide on the discharge at the time of framing of charges against all the accused.